Café Camelot
by Gojiberries
Summary: After the death of his father, the responsibility of the small café falls upon 22 year old Arthur Pendragon. Along with his sister, Morgana, and his friends, managing the café won't be too hard. However, things starts to become slighly complicated when he hires his sister's friend, Guinevere, as a waitress in the café. Alternative Universe: Set in our world in the mid-2000's.
1. Chapter 1

TRIGGER WARNING: suicide.

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After the death of his beloved wife, Uther Pendragon was constantly plagued by sorrow and anguish. He took an unfortunate liking to a notorious beverage that would weaken his state further. However, Uther would describe his relationship to this beverage in a far more romanticised manner: "alcohol is the nectar of life", he would say, "it returns the emotions of a joyous past!" Unfortunately, these emotions of the past, would only last for a couple of blissful hours, whereafter he would reluctantly return to his depressed state once again.

One summer morning, at approximately 05.49, after a series of self-destructive thoughts, Uther had come to the unfortunate conclusion that life was no longer of any importance. So, with trembling fingers and a heavy heart, he took his revolver and fired one loud shot into the space between his eyebrows. Uther Pendragon had now ceased to exist.


	2. Chapter 2

Gwen Larke arrived at the humble and relatively small café an hour too early. Today was her first day as a waitress in the café, in a fit of minor anxiety about coming late, she decided to show up early.

Gwen picked out a brown, sort of rustic, leather sofa to sit on, whilst sipping on a tepid cup of vanilla latte. Although it was in the middle of a remarkably warm and luminous summer day, she could not resist ordering a warm beverage. One factor as to why she did so might have been the interior; the ambience of the small café gave off a feeling of a cozy autumn evening; she could spot lots of bookshelves with lots of books, the African mahogany walls were decorated with small renaissance paintings of unknown people who had long ceased to exist. Unless they were time lords, of course. However, at that moment, she thought herself to be really lucky to get a job at such a beautiful place.

"I'm terribly sorry! I-I'll clean it up this instant!" Gwen looked up and found a long-legged man with short dark hair, awkwardly crouching down to tidy up the plate he just dropped. "It's okay. Let me help you," she said as she bent down and picked up some porcelain shards. "I'm Gwen. And I actually work here. Well, not yet, my shift starts in ten minutes," she finished the sentence with a soft welcoming smile. "Merlin, nice to meet you. Again, terribly sorry."

"God's sake, Merlin, again? This is the second plate you've broken today," Arthur approached the scene with a condescending look faced towards Merlin, "you're useless, you know that?"

"That was uncalled for," Gwen implied, while rising up from her crouched position, to which Arthur replied: "I am allowed to say whatever I want to any of my employees, since I'm their boss," he said with a hint of authority in his voice as well as facial expression. At that moment, Arthur realised who he was talking to, as he was the one who had interviewed her for the job. "Wait a minute. Guinevere Larke, right?" he said with slight surprise in his tone. "Yes. Good evening, sir," she said sharply. "Good evening. Unfortunately, I have no time to show you around your workplace. However, Merlin here can do it for you," he said and forced Merlin to stand up by dragging his arm, and then he simply walked away, unknowing of the disapproving look he was getting by Gwen.

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The first impression Gwen had gotten of Arthur Pendragon was obviously that he was very authoritative. It was apparent, by the way he would take every moment to display his superiority and that he was the one in charge. He also seemed to be very stoic and serious, though that was probably because her first impression of him got developed while he was interviewing her. People tend to be serious when interviewing a potential employee. Overall, her conclusion had been that he was a regular, serious, authoritative, businessman. However, after her second meeting with her boss, he would also appear to be rude and unkind. She sighed and internally scolded herself for being so judging towards a man she barely even knew. Her shift had finally ended and so she collected her things, locked the building, and entered the night.

If Gwen only knew how highly Arthur thought of her. To him she seemed to be loyal, as well as hard-working, and there appeared to be something about her that just radiated of kindness and serenity.

The night was graced by a heavy downpour. Arthur hurriedly searched for shelter, and found a bus station. He went inside the cubicle and sat on the wooden bench. He had just finished work at the office and longed for relaxation in his bed.

His thoughts were disrupted by the sight of a woman running towards the station, she was wearing a navy blue trench coat, her dark curls were reaching down to her shoulders. Gwen stepped into the cubicle and greeted Arthur with a wave and a warm smile, despite his rude behaviour around Merlin earlier that day, she had a feeling that that wasn't all there was to the man. "Hello, Guinevere," he let out with a tired smile. Gwen giggled softly by the thought of him calling her by her full name, "most people just call me Gwen, no one has called me Guinevere in years." Arthur then claimed: "That's a bit unfortunate, isn't it? Your name is quite... nice." Gwen's cheeks gradually turned into a shade of pink and she gave him her warmest, most genuine, smile. At that moment Arthur felt his heart skip a beat, as he laid his eyes upon Guinevere's face; her smile was quite mesmerising. He unconsciously leaned a bit forward, a bit closer to her face. He got pleasantly surprised by the smell of lavender surrounding her. Suddenly, both of them realised that the tapping sound of raindrops had descended.

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This chapter was written in a bit of a hurry, so I do apologise if it wasn't as good as the last one. I always appreciate constructive criticism! Thank you for reading my works. C:


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